KYO TAKE KOGEI / KYOTO BAMBOO CRAFT
About 1,200 years ago / 800s / Heian Period (794–1185)
Kyoto bamboo craft developed through baskets, flower containers, tea scoops, partitions and other objects used by the court, temples and tea culture. Good bamboo grew around the old capital, and from the Muromachi period makers learned to value both perfect weaving and the expressive irregularities of natural nodes and bends.
In Japan, bamboo is familiar because it is light, strong and fast-growing. Kyoto bamboo craft ranges from formal tea utensils to daily objects, while contemporary makers now create bags, lighting, furniture and sculptural works.
Unlike wood, bamboo can be split repeatedly into extremely fine strips. A single round culm can become dozens or hundreds of flexible lines that are woven into curved surfaces and complex volumes. The material is transformed from a plant into a kind of “architecture made of lines” with remarkably little waste.